| NARRATIVE STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE
The Shirk, David L., Ranch historic district is located in southeast Lake County in Guano Valley, Oregon. The property is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places for its local significance under Criterion A for its association with late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century free-range ranching practices and Criterion C as an exceptionally intact example of a period ranch. The nominated district includes nineteen resources within three discontiguous areas encompassing approximately 14.5 acres, including a residence, outbuildings, grave site, historic dump, and irrigation and fencing systems. The ranch buildings and structures are in their original setting and location, and in many cases are unusually well-built and appointed for the time period. The property’s period of significance begins in 1881 with the first recorded settlement at the site and ends when the ranch is fully developed in 1914.
David L. Shirk and his brother, William H. Shirk, became established as mid-level cattle ranchers in present-day Harney County in the late-nineteenth century after working as ranch hands in the mid-1880s. The Shirks were active participants in the settlement and development of the ranching industry in eastern Oregon, and became successful by employing the same stock and property management techniques used by larger operators. In the late- 1870s and early- 1880s, David L. Shirk began expanding his personal holdings in Lake County’s Guano Valley. In 1883 Shirk purchased the subject property to serve as a horse ranch, developing most of the ranch’s extant buildings and structures around 1910. He sold the property in 1914.
EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF LAKE COUNTY
Most of Lake County lies within the northern-most tip of the Great Basin, an inland drainage that includes much of southeast Deschutes County, Harney County, the state of Nevada, and parts of Utah and California. To the east in Malheur County is the Owyhee Uplands, a portion of the Snake River drainage. Oregon’s high desert of juniper and sagebrush is isolated from the Pacific Coast and Great Plains regions by mountain ranges, distance, and a lack of navigable rivers. The desert’s original human inhabitants, the Northern Paiute, made the best use of the area’s scattered resources and seasonal lakes and streams by moving frequently to gather food. Historically, abundant bunchgrass supported a stable population of game animals, an essential source of sustenance for the small bands that inhabited the area. Although briefly explored in the early-nineteenth century by Euro-American explorers, trappers, military expeditions, and wagon trains, southeastern Oregon held little interest for Euro-American settlers in the first several decades of westward expansion as they traveled through on their way to the fertile agricultural lands of the Willamette Valley.
During the later half of the century, several factors made eastern Oregon more inviting to would-be settlers. After the initial land rush, most of the best land in the Willamette Valley had already been claimed by first-generation settlers, forcing others to seek property elsewhere. Other incentives during this period include the discovery of gold in 1862 in Florence, Idaho, and then later in other areas in the Northwest; and government- sponsored settlement and industry initiatives such as the Homestead Act, Mineral Land Act of 1866, Timber Culture Act of 1873, and the Desert Land Act of 1877. The forced removal of Native Americans from their traditional lands onto reservations also encouraged settlement. The high desert lacked the advantages of abundant rainfall and fertile soils farmers enjoyed in the Willamette Valley; however, the relatively mild climate, seemingly endless native grasses and white sage, available, if intermittent, water sources, and miles of open federal lands made the region ideal for free-range cattle, sheep, and horse ranching. Ready markets in the mining towns of Idaho, Nevada, and California, and a growing western population made such an enterprise profitable. Local historian Herman Oliver notes that between 1870 and 1890 that there was an “almost a constant stream” of immigrants to the eastern portion of the state, and that “many brought livestock with them.”
By the mid-1870s, the livestock industry was booming in southeastern Oregon. This trend continued for several decades and spawned the development of new counties and towns. Prompted by demands for more local autonomy, Lake County was formed from Jackson and Wasco Counties by the Oregon State Legislature in 1875 with less than 1,000 residents within its 14,000 square miles. The county seat was Linksville, now Klamath Falls, in present -day Klamath County. Lakeview, Lake County’s largest town and critical supply center for area ranchers, became the county seat in 1876. By 1878, Lakeview had hotels, stores, stables, blacksmiths, and a newspaper. Despite steady growth, southeastern Oregon and Lake County remained remote, and most of the region’s economic ties were oriented toward more populated and established Northern California and Nevada. Reflecting this reality, every store in Lakeview had its own team to haul freight to and from Alturas, California, which was fifty miles to the south. The nearest railroad was ninety-five miles away, in Madeline Plains, California. The narrow gauge Nevada, California, and Oregon Railroad finally arrived from California to Lakeview in 1912, connecting the town to a mainline in Alturas. The geographic isolation of the region meant that the area’s many towns and ranching operations were largely self-sufficient well into the twentieth century. Residents often maintained gardens, orchards, and livestock, including poultry, for food and other by-products.
THE EARLY LIFE OF DAVID L. SHIRK
The Shirk Ranch reflects the relative prosperity David L. Shirk experienced later in his life, and his acquisition of the property and development of the ranch are the culmination of his experiences and the region’s broad historic trends. Shirk’s early life is therefore particularly relevant to the later development of the subject property.
David L. Shirk was born August 3, 1844 in Indiana and raised in Illinois. He was the oldest of nine children. He left the family farm for Idaho’s gold and silver fields as a young man “to brave the dangers of the ‘Great American Desert’ in search of fortune.” Working as a teamster, herder, and ranch hand, he traveled into the booming mining Owyhee Country in southwestern Idaho. Shirk began in the cattle industry by working Texas cattle drives destined for the region’s mining towns. On his first drive, Shirk worked for Con Shea and George Miller at the receiving end of the first drive of Texas cattle to Oregon Territory in 1869. Shirk made two Texas drives himself with Miller in his late-twenties in 1871 and 1873, keeping diaries of his experiences. Shirk arrived in Idaho just as the cattle industry became important in the region, and he eventually established his first operation, the Home Creek Ranch, in Catlow Valley, Harney County in the late 1880s.
Shirk’s success as a businessman reflects the general growth of the livestock industry and the region. In the 1850s, ranchers drove cattle from western Oregon and California and points farther abroad to the booming mining operations in eastern British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. By the time of Shirk’s arrival in the early 1870s, demand for imported cattle had largely peaked in the mining camps, and long drives from Texas, like those Shirk participated in, came to an end as local suppliers met demand and expanded. Eastern Oregon’s livestock industry began in the 1860s as stockmen moved their herds of sheep, cattle, and horses over the Cascades from western Oregon and California to expand their operations. Establishing a pattern that would be followed by others, Californian Andrew Clarno moved with his family to establish his first operation, the “Andrew Clarno Ranch,” in 1866 in the John Day Hills. In the absence of local timber, Clarno imported much of his lumber and other construction materials from The Dalles, the closest shipping point. Clarno also brought his own cattle, 300 heifers from his home state, which multiplied quickly and were later sold in Portland. Like Clarno, other operators located their ranches in central Oregon along the Columbia River near established transportation routes and springs and streams where a supply of water and good native grasses could be found. Many settlers filing for their 160 acres under the Homestead Act did so with the expectation that the wide tracks of federal lands would be open to free-range grazing. Some ranchers quickly, and often illegally, expanded their homesteads by having family members and loyal employees file on adjacent lands, or abused other federal programs to increase their holdings. Successful operators endeavored not only to control as much land as possible, but also to secure an adequate supply of water. Many built their stock from the California and Western Oregon herds and drove their finished animals to Wenemucka Nevada. Other destinations included local markets in The Dalles and Portland Oregon. As early as 1868 animals were driven to Council Bluffs Cheyenne and other “good markets of the time” in herds of 5,000 or more. Even larger herds representing the stock of several ranchers originated from the Steen Mountains to the south. As ranching spread into Oregon’s southeast corner the practices of taking advantage of federal programs to secure land and importing stock and building supplies to the remote ranches continued; however, ranches in these areas generally looked south to California and Nevada for their markets, supplies, and in the case of larger operations, their financing.
Shirk arrived in the Catlow Valley in 1874 as an employee of Scotsman John Catlow. Catlow ran several thousand cattle in the area. The Catlow Valley is located in southwest Harney County, south of the town of Frenchglen. See figure 1. While in Catlow Valley, Shirk served as Catlow’s superintendent until 1876 when Catlow sold his stock to the French-Glenn Company. By this time Shirk had learned the livestock business, and with his earnings established his first ranch in the valley on the western side of the Steens Mountains. Shirk would not purchase the subject property until much later when he expanded his operation. Shirk made his first filing on his Catlow Valley ranch on a preemption claim near a small stream he called “Home Creek,” becoming the first settler there. In 1877, Shirk married Frances Crow, and the couple moved to Shirk’s “Home Creek Ranch,” which he named himself. See figure 7. His brother, William, settled nearby on the Three Mile Ranch with his wife, Hannah Rose Crow, Frances’ sister. Harney County historian George Francis Brimlow remarks that in the nineteenth century stockmen like Catlow and Shirk, “could equip his ranch for a few thousand dollars. Labor costs were low, and little money was expended as cattle drifted from Summer to Winter Ranges.” In his autobiography, Shirk himself describes ranching during this period as “simple in the extreme.” As Shirk recalls, in the spring “cattle were driven in from outside ranges, calves branded, and all turned loose on the range again. The same course was observed in the fall, and that ended all care of the stock until the next year. Of course in the fall, the beef cattle were collected and driven to market, usually to Winnemucca, and then shipped to the markets of San Francisco.”
Using these simple practices, Shirk and his brother became more successful than Catlow. By 1884 the Shirks secured title to 1,240 acres using the Homestead Act, preemption, and the Desert and Timber Lands Acts; although contemporary reports claim that the Shirks controlled approximately 50,000 acres. While still considered “small fry” by Shirk’s own admission, the Shirk brothers’ operation was successful because they controlled key water resources – a benefit no doubt of Shirks’ early arrival in the valley. As David Shirk noted, in southeastern Oregon’s high desert “water rights were… deemed of prime importance, and every stream and spring was sought to be monopolized.” Reflecting his success as a successful cattleman, Shirk replaced his small two-room juniper-log and sod house with a “sumptuous” one-and-a-half story Italianate-style home made of milled lumber.
Despite the low initial investment, raising livestock in southeastern Oregon in the 1870s and early 1880s was a risky enterprise. Left unattended on the range, animals could be stolen, attacked by predators, or starve; however, the low overhead of running cattle on the range was thought to compensate for losses. Reflecting this practice, the ranches themselves were simple, usually including a dwelling for the owner and a few outbuildings and corrals for cow ponies and to raise food for immediate consumption. However, it proved to be eastern Oregon’s severe weather that was the gravest threat, which would eventually force changes in the ranching industry. At the time, it was a common belief that providing food and shelter for free-range animals over winter was unnecessary. Instead, cattle, sheep, and horses were allowed to roam free on federal range lands and expected to fend for themselves. Although the cattlemen in the northwest experienced a severe winter in 1847-1848, the yearlong open-range idea persisted. The notion persevered even after the winter of 1861-62 when losses were again high in the region. The devastating winter of 1889-90 resulted in such catastrophic losses, especially in recently populated eastern Oregon, that stockman grudgingly began raising hay and providing shelter for their animals, resulting in more well-developed ranches that included numerous buildings and fields for caring for animals and raising hay.
In addition to the weather and other hazards of the open range, land competition peaked in the last part of the nineteenth century as cattlemen, sheep ranchers, and homesteaders fought for the best lands. All the region’s residents were all dependent on free or low cost access to federal lands for their operations. As southeast Oregon became more populous, conflict was inevitable. Cattlemen generally considered the land 50 to 100 miles from their “home ranches” to be part of their grazing range, whether they had title to it or not. Overtime, much of the area’s free federal lands became dominated by a handful of powerful landholders. Historian William G. Robbins points out that during this time, “the range cattle industry in Southeastern Oregon operated in a Darwinian economic and ecological world, playing footloose and free with federal and state land laws, gaining a stranglehold on water rights, buying out smaller owners to expand their holdings when it was to their advantage, and keeping too many cattle on the ranges when the market was soft.” The enormous operations run by the “cattle kings” of the region included the partnerships of French and Glenn, Todhunter and Devine, Riley and Hardin, and Miller and Lux, who were notorious for their aggressive and often illegal tactics to acquire land and water rights. In many cases, the capital and herds for these operations came from California, where state law had effectively ended open-range grazing in the state. One of Oregon’s most legendary cattleman, Peter French, was backed by Dr. Hugh Glenn, known as the California’s “wheat king,” and his family heirs. By 1897 French’s holdings included 130,000 acres, 30,000 head of cattle, and 3,000 horses and mules, among other assets. A common tactic used to accumulate land was hiring dummy entry men to establish homestead claims. Those claims with the accompanying water rights would then be transferred to the control of the ever-expanding ranches. In other cases, intimidation was used to force smaller operators and individual settlers to sell their property.
Like many others, David Shirk and his brother were involved in a protracted land conflict in the mid 1880s. In his autobiography, Shirk claims that Pete French attempted to “freeze us out” by blocking access to key federal range lands. According to Shirk, French still harbored resentment against him for marrying Frances Crow, who French himself pined for when the two men were young. The conflict reached a peak in 1888 when David Shirk shot and killed one of French’s employees. In Shirk’s subsequent murder trail, French attempted to portray Shirk as a cattle baron who had killed an innocent settler. Shirk, however, was acquitted. Later, French himself was shot and killed over a land dispute by settler Ed Oliver in 1897. Drawing on popular resentment of French and the other “Cattle Kings,” Oliver claimed that he had shot French in self defense, even though French was unarmed and walking away when killed. Oliver was acquitted. Conflict over land was also at the heart of the Bannock War of 1878, the last major Native American armed resistance in the Pacific Northwest, and the sporadic conflicts in the area between sheep herders and cattlemen in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. Continued and sometimes deadly struggles over land eventually led to the end of the open range.
ESTABLISHEMENT OF THE SHIRK RANCH AT GUANO VALLEY
David Shirk’s conflict with French came as the Shirks began expanding their operation in the 1870s and 1880s. Shirk noted that in the 1880s “our stock had increased at such a rate that we began to realize that if we were to remain in the live stock business, it was absolutely necessary to increase our land holdings.” No doubt, the increasing number of competitors and settlers in southeastern Oregon gave the brothers a sense of urgency. The expansion of permanent settlement and farms in Western Oregon and throughout the Columbia Basin led to the decline of free-range ranching in these areas as federal lands were carved up under the Donation Land Claim Act and later the Homestead Act, into family farms. To be profitable, the cattle ranches needed free access to water and good forage, which required vast amounts of property in this desert region. Between 1874 and 1884 Shirk acquired title to 1,240 acres in Lake County, but it was not until the early 1880s that he began acquiring lands in Guano Valley. Guano Valley is approximately 50 miles southwest of Shirk’s Home Creek Ranch. The Shirks’ land acquisitions were concentrated in sections 26, 27, and 35, where Guano Creek and other small streams feeding the valley’s seasonal lakes are located. Shirk, no doubt based on his experience in the Catlow Valley, sought to dominate the area water sources so key to a ranching operation’s success. Shirk’s autobiography implies that he acquired interests in other property within the region, although an accounting of the properties he held is not available.
The subject property was first recorded in a General Land Office Survey in August 1881. At the time, the survey mapped a wagon road and a location for “Hill’s house” in the northwest quarter of Section 35. The document remarks that “Hill has good dwelling house, stone barn and out building in NW ¼ of section.” Although conjectural, the survey likely recorded the original ranch house, now identified as the “old ranch house ruin,” rocked shed, and the older portion of the blacksmith shop, all dated to this period in various architectural studies. Shirk continued to use these buildings even as he expanded the facility around 1910. General Land Office records show patent from public domain to Taylor Alkire with a cash sale on March 10, 1884, and that Taylor acquired the SW ¼ of section on December 5, 1884. Lake County Clerk’s records note that on August 24, 1914 that David Shirk purchased the land from Taylor Alkire for $750 with the sale first recorded with a Modoc County notary public on November 28, 1883, and recorded in Grant County (Book F, page 11) on April 7, 1884. See figure 6.
In contrast to his operations in the Catlow Valley, Shirk’s primary business at Guano Valley was horses, and he had a reputation for the “finest horseflesh” in the whole county. Despite a shift in emphasis in Guano Valley, it is unlikely that Shirk gave up cattle ranching. For instance, Shirk’s business envelopes featured lithographs of both a steer and a horse. See photograph 28. Horse raising was a key industry well into the twentieth century before the automobile and mechanized farm machinery were widely available. Early stock was taken from the herds of wild horses that originated from loose animals left by the Spanish in the U.S. Desert Southwest. These animals could be “excellent horses when broken;” however, most ranchers preferred imported thoroughbreds. Despite myth and legend, true “Mustangs” were considered an unsuitable animal for work or breeding because of their slight frame and wild nature. Making the best use of both, some ranchers used wild horses as breed mares, and imported well-bred stallions to build up their herds of “cow ponies.” Undesirable animals were often culled from the roaming herds. “Breeding up” was a common practice across the United States, and the goal of the technique was to quickly, and inexpensively, increase the “weight and substance” of a horse, while reducing the wild characteristics of true Mustangs. Historian Walker D. Wyman notes that in Oregon ranchers mated Clydesdale sires and Mustang mares to produce a “short-set compact mount, with large bones and hairy legs, [that] possessed many admirable qualities” called the “Oregon Lummox.” Other local breeds included the “Percheron Puddin Foot” from Montana and Dakota, Texas “Quarter Horse,” and the Colorado “Ranger” among others.
Like cattle, horses were raised and managed in a similar manner. Horses were summered on the open range, but were rounded up and branded in winter. Once old enough, young horses were taken off the range and broken and trained for use on the ranches or were sold. Horse ranching in southeastern Oregon began in the 1880s in Malheur and Harney Counties, and later expanding into Lake, Crook, and Deschutes Counties. Like cattle, horses raised on Oregon ranges were usually destined for local markets in the northwest and northern California, but were sold as far as Arizona. Area ranchers like George Burnt also raised horses for sale on his Last Chance Ranch in Nevada, now part of the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge in Nevada. Bigger than either Shirk or Burnt’s operations, the “Horse King,” William Walter Brown, ran 10,000 horses on a huge range in the area of Wagontire Mountain in the 1880s.
When Shirk acquired the subject property in 1883 the small ranch already included a residence and two outbuildings, now identified as the old ranch house ruin, rocked shed, and blacksmith shop. Thorough investigations of the resources reveal that few improvements were made to the ranch in Guano Valley until around 1910 when it is estimated that the majority of the extant buildings were constructed. However, Shirk’s acquisition of the ranch in 1883 corresponds with the development of horse ranching in the region. In October 1896, Shirk moved his family to a rented home in Berkeley, California, and later purchased a home at 1719 Hearst Avenue, Berkeley where his four children, Lawson, Olive, Lila, and Joseph, attended local schools. From his autobiography, it is presumed that Shirk himself returned to Guano Valley. It is not known if he was there year-round or only during the summer months with his family. It is also unclear how long he continued to own and maintain his Home Creek Ranch property, which he had until at least 1900. See figure 7. Upon returning to Guano Valley after settling his family, Shirk writes, “at once began improving the property to accommodate a large number of horses and mules,” noting in his autobiography, that “these I raised myself, shipped to market… and sold them, and in this I did fairly well.” According to Shirk, he annually transported and sold “two or three carloads of horses and mules” each fall in Berkeley. Shirk no doubt benefited as demand for all horses, including wild horses, surged during the Boer War in South Africa, 1899 -1902. Historian Tom L. McKnight notes that “agents of the British government ranged widely over the western United States, Canada, and Mexico, purchasing cow ponies and range horses, tamed or not, for use as pack, draft, and cavalry animals.”
In contrast to larger operations in the region, Shirk’s operation was a small, family affair. Before moving his family to California, the entire Shirk family did a large share of the ranch work. Shirk himself reports that “I and my family, including my wife and children, were almost constantly in the saddle, doing our own work and thus lessening expenses.” Shirk also hired family and family friends to work for him throughout his career, and developed a close relationship with his employees whom he expected to be trustworthy and to work hard. According to his own recollections, Shirk stated,
I endeavored to secure as employees the better class of young men. I had constructed an elegant country home, and all were treated as equals. They ate their meals with me and my family, and in other respects were treated as equals. Upstairs, I fitted up a billiard room, placing therein a modern billiard table for their amusement during times of idleness and the long winter nights. I had a two-fold purpose in this. First, because I believe that every man is as good as any other man, provided he is honest, industrious and conducts himself as a self-respecting man, and also, because I sought by this means and by such methods to secure contentment and steadiness on the part of the men in my employ.”
It is unclear if Shirk is referring to his ranch in Guano Valley or Catlow Valley when speaking about the billiard room; however, the large second-floor rectangular room at the Guano Valley ranch is consistent with the description.
By the early-twentieth century, ranching in southeastern Oregon had changed significantly as the open range became settled. Always in competition with ranchers for land, the number of settlers peaked between 1900 and 1920, encouraged by the Enlarged Homestead Act of 1909 and Stock Raising Act of 1916. Many of these settlers “starved out” within a few years, leaving behind abandoned farms and towns by 1920. The population pressure created by these newcomers heightened tensions between settlers and ranchers, and limited the areas where operators could raise their stock. Another factor in the decline of open-range ranching and growing land competition between operators was the gradual depletion of natural forage and degradation of the land due to overgrazing. Competition between operators was fierce, and at times became deadly. The conflict between Anglo cattlemen and “foreign sheepmen,” mostly Basque and eastern Europeans, climaxed in 1904-1905, resulting in the creation of forest reserves by the Federal government in 1906. In an effort to stop the violence and ensure fair distribution of grazing lands, the act allotted stock raisers specific tracts to graze their animals, effectively ending the practice of free-range ranching.
Despite the changing industry, the Shirk family continued to live and work in Lake County. David Shirk’s brother, W. H. Shirk sold his land and stock in 1900 and moved to Reno, Nevada, in February of the following year to educate his children. Later, he moved to Lakeview, Oregon, where he organized the First National Bank in 1905 and the Lake County Loan & Savings Bank in 1906. During this time, David Shirk continued in the ranching business; although, in 1914 he sold the Guano Valley Ranch to the partnership of Mitchell and McDaniel of Cedarville, California. His brother, William, died suddenly of a heart attack a few years after the sale in 1918. Although in his mid-70s at the time, according to accounts by the Lake County Examiner, David Shirk remained active in the ranching business in Nevada, just over the Oregon border, and occasionally visited Oregon on business through 1919. In 1920, it was reported that Shirk leased the last of his holdings in the area to Wib Spaulding, to “take a well earned rest from the active business that he has led for so many years.” The newspaper account added, “however, we expect to see him here occasionally.” Shirk was 76. He died at the age of 83 in Berkeley, California in 1928, where he was a member of several local fraternal organizations. See Shirk’s obituary, figure 8. It is unknown when Shirk’s wife died, but she remained in Berkeley at least through 1934. Shirk’s children continued in the ranching business. His daughter, Olive, known as one of the best “horsemen” in the area and a “tough ranch lady,” leased the Shirk Ranch with her husband, Zetus Spaulding, from the Bank of Willows, California, which had acquired it in foreclosure from the Mitchell and McDaniel Partnership. The ranch became part of the Hart Mountain National Wildlife Refuge in 1942. Shirk’s daughter and husband lived and worked on the ranch until Zetus’ death in 1945. The ranch was leased to various interests through the 1980s, but has been vacant since that time.
THE SHIRK RANCH AS A PROPERTY TYPE
Ranches, large and small, were once common in southeastern Oregon, and those still extant resources are important cultural resources. In his evaluation of the historic and cultural resources of Lake County, historian Stephen Dow Beckham noted in 1982 that “the most common theme appearing in Lake County’s inventory [of historic buildings] is ‘agriculture: stock raising.’ The medley of barns corrals, sheds, bunkhouses and related structures testifies to the importance and long term role of the raising of livestock in the development of Lake County.” Indeed, historian Lou Ann Speulda remarks that resources associated with the livestock industry and the settling of the region are an “extremely important” link to this pivotal period.
The ranches that dot southeast Oregon and Lake County reflect the environmental and economic trends that shaped the development of the region. In southeast Oregon, the lack of arable land, water sources, and building materials, as well as the region’s geographic isolation influenced where settlers lived, their occupation, and where and how they built their homes and businesses. In contrast to the fertile Willamette Valley, southeast Oregon’s natural resources were few: abundant native grasses and large expanses of space. These two advantages coupled with federal settlement inducements, encouraged the expansion of stock ranging in the area. In order to overcome a lack of water and isolation, ranch operators located near sources of water where they could be self-sufficient. A 1985 United States Fish and Wildlife Service report concerning historic resources in the Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge and nearby Sheldon Wildlife Refuge in Nevada notes that the widely dispersed ranches of the region were “almost always” established around a source of water near natural meadows, or where irrigation could be used to grow native hay for livestock.
Geographic isolation also limited the types of buildings settlers could construct. The Fish and Wildlife report states, “in a region of long distances and fairly primitive transportation, the cost of manufactured building materials, such as milled lumber or brick tended to be prohibitive.” Locally available building materials were used well into the twentieth century and included undressed dry-laid stone for exterior walls and foundations and whole juniper poles for building support. Fences were constructed of whole-log juniper posts, woven brush, and even tumbleweed. |
